Jason’s arm stayed firmly tucked around me like he was keeping me out of harm’s way and protected. It was sweet and eased my mind some. But the disappointment in his mother’s eyes was hard to ignore. She expected more from Jason than . . . me. I couldn’t blame her, really. Jason was brilliant and had a future ahead of him so much bigger than me. I wanted to reassure her that I wasn’t going to hold him back. I wanted all his dreams to come true too. I didn’t say anything, though. She didn’t look like she wanted to speak to me.

“Girlfriend?” she repeated, distaste in her voice as the word rolled off her tongue. “I was unaware you had a girlfriend. Johanna was under the impression you would be accompanying her to the cotillion next weekend. Her mother called to let me know the color of her dress so you could order her corsage.”

Jason’s body went rigid beside me, and his arm tightened as he pulled me even closer to him. “I told Johanna I would be her escort before things got serious between Jess and me. I’ll still take her, but it will be a friends-only thing.”

I was trying to figure out what a cotillion was and why it was okay for Jason to still buy a girl flowers and take her to this thing when he’d gotten upset over me just having dinner with Jeff.

“Yes, well, we will talk about this later. You need to get dressed.” She paused and looked at me. “Both of you,” she said, again with the disgusted tone in her voice. “We can continue this conversation over breakfast.”

“We’ll be down shortly,” he replied.

His mother nodded and stepped out of the room, closing the door a little harder than necessary.

Jason let out a frustrated sigh and laid his head back down. “She lives to control me. I swear I can’t get away from her. Not even here.”

I turned to look at him. “Your mother?” I asked, wondering if we were talking about his mother or Johanna.

“Yeah, my mother,” he said, then leaned over and kissed me. “I’m sorry about that. Not how I wanted you to wake up. I had some really good plans that she just shot to hell.”

I wanted to know what those plans were, but I was afraid his mother would come back and demand we get dressed if we took too long. “We need to get dressed,” I said.

He frowned, then nodded. “Yeah, she’ll be back if we don’t get down there soon.”

I slipped out of his embrace and started to get out of bed when his arms slid back around my waist and he pulled me back against his chest. “You look gorgeous when you wake up. I’ve been watching you sleep for an hour, imagining how good your skin tastes in the morning.”

I wanted to melt into him and let him keep telling me what he had been thinking, but his mother’s presence in the house and the name Johanna were keeping me from doing that.

I reached for his hands and pulled them off of me, then stood up and reached for my clothes, realizing he had brought me over here last night in a pair of boxers and a tank top. I couldn’t go downstairs dressed like that.

Turning around to look at Jason, I found him still sitting on the bed, staring at my naked body. That was hard to ignore. I wanted to forget Johanna and his mother and just crawl back into bed. But this was important. I wanted her to like me.

“I don’t have anything to wear,” I told him, feeling my skin heat up under his gaze.

He lifted his eyes to meet mine after they lingered on my breasts. “Have I mentioned that I hate my mother?” he asked. Then his lips curled into a sexy smile.

I put my hands on my hips, knowing it only made my breasts look better, and frowned at him. “I am pretty sure she hates me, too. So finding me something other than my tank top and boxer shorts would be wise.”

Jason’s eyes were back on my chest. “Jess,” he said slowly.

“Hmm?”

“You need to cover yourself or I’m not going to be able to focus on anything other than bending you over my bed.”

Oh. My nipples went taut and he muttered a curse. I wrapped my arms over my chest and Jason shook his head as if he were trying to clear it. “Okay, right, uh, clothes,” he said, looking anywhere but at me. He opened a drawer and pulled out a T-shirt and a pair of sweatpants. “These are too small. I’ve had them here for a couple of years. They also have a drawstring,” he said, handing them to me without looking at me. “Put them on fast, please,” he said.

Smiling, I took the clothes and pulled on the tank top I had worn, since I didn’t have a bra, then finished dressing myself. The clothes were baggy but not too bad. “I’m dressed,” I told him as he pulled on a pair of jeans. He turned back around and his gaze traveled down my body. When his eyes met mine again, a pleased look was on his face. “I like you in my clothes.”

I liked wearing his clothes. I was doubting his mother was going to like it, though. But there wasn’t much I could do about that.

Jason pulled a shirt over his head, then held out his hand for me to take. I let him pull me against him before I put my hand up to stop him from kissing me. “Wait.”

His frown was instant. I knew he didn’t realize the thing with Johanna bothered me. He was acting like it wasn’t a big deal. He hadn’t even brought it up after his mother left the room. But it was a big deal. I wanted to know who she was. What a cotillion was and why he was still planning on taking her.

“Who’s Johanna and what’s a cotillion?” I asked.

Jason sighed and ran his hand through his hair like he was frustrated. If I wasn’t so completely obsessed with him, that would piss me off. But where Jason was concerned, I was weak. I loved him too much.

“A girl from home. Our parents are friends. They have a place in the Hamptons next door to ours. We’ve grown up together. And a cotillion is a stupid thing they do at the country club my parents are members of, where girls enter society. They get all dressed up, and it’s a dance thing. Like I said, it’s stupid.”

He was taking her to a dance. A girl who his mother approved of and he had known his whole life. My stomach felt sick. She would be all dressed up in a fabulous, expensive dress, and he would put his hands on her as they danced. I stepped back from him, needing some space.

I had asked for this when I had decided to enjoy Jason while I had him. I should have known there was a Johanna. There always was.

“Jess,” he said, reaching for me, but I pulled my hand away and put it behind my back.

“I should go,” I told him before walking to the door.

“Oh, no, you don’t,” he said, running in front of me and blocking the door. “You aren’t walking out of here mad at me. You’re the only girl I want. If I could get out of this thing with Jo, I would. But it would leave her in a bind for an escort, and she’s a friend. That’s it. A friend. She knows it, even if my mother would like to pretend otherwise.”

I wanted to believe him, but it still stung. I felt like he was choosing “Jo” over me. Which didn’t surprise me. No man had ever put me first. Why I should expect that from Jason just because I’d told him I loved him, I didn’t know.

“Fine. I still want to go home. Can you have your driver take me, please?”

Jason grabbed my waist. “No. You aren’t leaving like this. You’re upset, and I can’t fucking handle that. I don’t want you upset. What do you want me to do? Tell me how I can fix this, and I’ll do it, Jess. Just please don’t be mad at me.”

He looked determined. I wanted to believe him, but I had already voiced my concern. He had ignored that. I couldn’t ask him not to take her, because I knew he would give me the same excuse again. “What night is it?” I asked him instead.

“Next Saturday,” he said, almost wincing as he said it.

I wasn’t a whimpering, pathetic female. Something about Jason was making me weak. The protective walls I had lived behind were crumbling, and I was letting myself be pushed around. I was tougher than this. I looked him directly in the eye.

“Fine. She’s your friend. Take her to her cotillion,” I said, and relief touched his face, but I wasn’t done yet. “I’ll have Dewayne take me to the music festival next Saturday night on the beach, since he’s a friend I’ve had since I was a kid and I never miss a music festival. Especially since Blake Shelton will be there this year.”

Jason’s entire body went rigid, and I flashed him a smile. “We should probably go to breakfast now,” I said sweetly.

“Why Dewayne?” he asked in a low, even voice. I could tell he was trying to control his reaction.

He had been dealing with the lovestruck Jess. He’d forgotten that I could play dirty. “Because I know if I ask him to, he’ll not only get me a ticket, he’ll take me.” I added a shrug. “And, of course, he’s an old friend.”

Jason grabbed the door handle and took a deep breath. “Okay” was all he said before opening the door and standing back for me to exit first.

I walked into the hallway and had no idea where to go next. “You’re gonna have to lead. I’m lost,” I told him.

He was still standing at the door, staring at me, when I glanced back at him. There was a pained look on his face, and I silently cheered that my threat was getting to him. If he wanted me to live with his world, then he’d have to learn to live with mine.

“How’s he gonna get tickets this late?” Jason asked.

“We’re locals,” I replied with a grin. “We know who to call.”

Jason’s frown was verging on angry, and I couldn’t keep the grin off my face. Guess it didn’t feel too good to him, either.

He didn’t say anything else on our way down to the dining room, and I became more and more aware of the fact that I was way underdressed for breakfast with his mother the closer we got. I had been busy making sure Jason knew how it felt to be left on the sidelines that I hadn’t thought about my clothing.